Monday, July 23, 2012

REVIEW OF A HANDSOME NEW TOFU PRESS (LARGER CAPACITY; HANDMADE)-- AND A CHANCE TO WIN ONE!

This is the first guest post I've ever hosted on my blog, written by one of my original Vegan Feast newsletter subscribers, who has become a friend. Brenda wrote the step-by-step, illustrated tofu-making article for my website (which is now located on her blog), so she is well-qualified to review this new product! Bryanna

UPDATE July 31, 2012:The draw is over and the lucky winner is Courtney!

Tofu Press

by

Earth First Innovations

A review by Brenda Wiley

NOTE: See the end of this post to learn how you can
enter a drawing for a free give away of one of these tofu presses.

I have finally found a tofu press that I
LOVE!!

I have been making my own tofu since
sometime around the late 1990’s or early 2000 (pure guess actually ... trying
to find a date on some of my photos without success).

When I first got ready to make homemade
tofu, I bought a tofu kit from Sanlink, and have been using that pressing box
ever since.

This press certainly serves the purpose,
but I've found it had two shortcomings:

First ... for the first 10 minutes or so of
pressing, I have to be "hands on", holding the two ten pound weights
sitting atop the can of tomatoes all of which is providing the weight to press
the tofu. During the initial few minutes of pressing, as the tofu is being
pressed, it is so soft and wobbly that this stack of weights and canned goods
literally weaves all over the place.

Even once the tofu gets firm enough to end
the "wobbling", I still keep a close eye on things to prevent 20
pounds of weights from crashing onto my wood floor.

The second short coming is the size ... the
box is only large enough to make a 1 to 1 1/4 pound (450 grams to 560 grams)
block of tofu at a time. For as much tofu as I make, I'd like the option of
making 2 pounds or more while I'm at it. (A check of the Sanlink page shows
their box is now larger --- 7.5" by 5.5" by 4" deep. The one I'm
using is 5.25" by 4" by 3" deep).

Due to the small size of the box
(5.25" by 4" opening), I've got to spoon 6 QUARTS of hot soymilk into
this little container. I've done this via 2 cup scoop.

I was pleasantly surprised to be contacted
by Kevin Kuhns who, after learning to make tofu, realized these were problems
needing a solution. He has developed a mechanical tofu press for small-scale
tofu production for commercial and home use.

He kindly sent me 2 units to use and
evaluate in exchange for a review on this website. Kevin provided only the 2
products .. the review that follows is totally my own and is based purely on my
experience with the product.

His units are made from select, eastern
white pine. He chose this because it is native to the US Northeast, readily
available in high quality lumber, and is about as rot-resistant as the
over-touted Japanese cypress. He ruled out using any of the tropical hardwoods
(teak or ebony) as a matter of conscience. One of the tenets of his company is
"Earth First", and his first priority was to use a sustainable wood.

He makes an unfinished unit, and one finished
with a food safe finish, and he sent me one of each. The only difference is
that with the unfinished one, before using, you would want apply a thin coating
of food grade mineral oil to the wood before using.

I simply cannot say enough about how useful
and practical this product is. It perfectly solves the two issues mentioned
above ... I found his method of pressing to be so simple and so intuitive, it
makes me wonder why no one else has thought of this as yet.

The pressing is done via a handle pressing
down on a top plate that is in contact with the top of the muslin wrapped tofu.
This handle is held in place with two "press bands" --- basically two
wide, super-strong, heavy duty rubber bands. These bands can apply as much as
20 pounds of weight to the tofu, or as little as 5 pounds, based on whether you
use one or two bands, and how much you stretch them (the amount of stretch is
controlled by where you put the lower pin to which the rubber band(s) attach.
This pin can be moved up or down).

The beauty of this is that you pour the
curds and whey into the muslin lined box, fold the muslin over the curds, apply
the top plate, attach the bands and walk away. No teetering tower of 20 pounds
of your husband's weights on top of a can of tomatoes to guard against toppling
and falling!

Kevin's box is also plenty large ... he
says it will make up to nearly 4 pounds of tofu at one time. I have used it to
make up to 2 pounds at one time, something I was never able to do before.
Another advantage of the size of his box is that you don't have to ladle 6
quarts of curds and whey into a tiny container (as mentioned above). I just
pour all the curds and whey right into this muslin lined box without a bit of
problem.

The box also is able to handle a
"regular" batch of tofu .... 5 1/2 quarts of Soymilk to make one
pound of extra firm tofu. Here is my one pound block of tofu made in Kevin's
Tofu Press.

Other Uses

Kevin also designed the box to act as a
press to press water out of commercial tofu. I tried this (yes, I do
occasionally buy commercial tofu when I don't have time to make my own !! ) and
his product works great! It is perfectly sized and shaped to allow two 14 to 16
ounce blocks of tofu (the size normally sold in the US) to lie side by side on
the bottom plate within the box. Using his press, I was able to press out 11
ounces of water from 2 store bought blocks of tofu.

He also says it will work well as a general
food press, when you need to, for example, press water from thawed, frozen
spinach, spring vegetables, etc.

I found Kevin to be very responsive to
input on his product. In fact, he changed a couple parts of the unit's design
in response to my feedback. (Note that
part of the redesign involved the plunger, and the new units’ plungers look
slightly different from what I have in my photos. Overall design is unchanged however.)

Besides the tofu pressing box itself, Kevin
also includes an amply sized piece of muslin, and 3 ounces of nigari flakes,
enough to coagulate approximately 10 pounds of dry soybeans.

He sells the units with the food-safe
finish for $46.99; the natural pine ones (no finish) are sold for $39.99.
Shipping is additional, based on your location and preferred shipping method.
He ships world-wide. All these units have been handmade by Kevin, and they are
fine, well made products. In fact, the thickness of the wood sides and pressing
plates is almost twice the thickness of my old Sanlink product.

I urge you to take a look at Kevin's
product ... it's always great to find something made to meet a specific need
... form and function perfectly meshing. From my uses, I can whole heartedly
recommend this!!

About that contest:
Kevin is generously offering to provide one lucky winner with a tofu
press of their choice (either one with a food-safe finish or one of the plain,
unfinished ones) free of charge. If you
are interested in winning an Earth First Tofu Press, please leave a comment
below.

Please be sure to provide a
valid email address so we can contact you if you win. Bryanna will draw the lucky winner via a
random drawing on July 31, 2012 .

Brenda’s Bio:

Brenda is a 59 year old RN, who within the
last year and a half, has gradually reduced her work hours from full time, to
just a few hours per month to devote more time to her passions.

These passions include her husband of 32 years;
two canine family members; maintaining her physical health; growing
spiritually; cooking; and hiking. She
especially loves to connect with folks thinking about making the switch from a
meat based diet to a plant based diet, to show them the all the advantages of
that way of eating, and helping them avoid some of the stumbling blocks.

She has been vegetarian since 1976,
following a 6 month post-college experiment to see what vegetarian eating was
like. That 6 month experiment is now
almost 36 years and counting!!

She made the switch from vegetarian to
vegan sometime in the early 80’s. Brenda
very much sees clear-cut connections between her life interests: maintaining a healthy body, growing
spiritually, and following a vegan lifestyle.
Each supports the others.

Some 10 or 12 years ago, she started making
her own tofu. Her webpage has pictorial
step-by-step directions for this.
Bryanna graciously hosted those instructions on her own site until
Brenda set up her website some years ago.

Kevin C. Kuhns Bio:

Kevin is a dedicated horticulturist,
mycologist and out-spoken proponent of green industry and green initiatives. He
has operated his own small nursery specializing in hellebores and Japanese
maples and has developed a low-cost laminar flow hood and incubation device for
micropropagation applications. Kevin is also a long-time devotee of soy food
products, in particular tempeh and more recently tofu. In 2010 he established a
start-up company, Earth First Innovations LLC, in New Hampshire that is
dedicated to low-cost tofu and tempeh production devices.

In his early career, Kevin worked in the
telecommunications industry where he specialized in satellite communications
and television encryption for 30 years. He has three patents and numerous
publications in these fields.

Throughout his career Kevin has engaged in
extensive international assignments. He has lived as a resident of Indonesia
for 17 years, Singapore for 3 years, Viet Nam for 3 years, China for 2 years
with frequent travel to Europe and Africa and throughout southeast Asia. As a
result, Indonesia remains a second home to Kevin, and he has fully immersed
himself in Indonesian culture, language and cuisine over the many years there.
It is this immersion that has made Kevin a devoted promoter of fermented foods
such as tempeh, tape and oncom.

When asked, Kevin describes himself as a
deeply spiritual, yet non-conformist Christian with an abiding respect for the
tenets of Buddhism. He is a devoted father, husband and supportive friend to
those who may choose to know him.

47 comments:

As a veg chef who married a carpenter, I am mightily impressed with the obvious workmanship of the press. It's high time, the little plastic press that I have is useless, for years I just used a colander and made round tofu, when I bothered. I admit, the Wildwood tofu we get here is pretty good.Bravo for bringing sustainable wood and sustainable food together!

That tofu press looks great, even just for pressing commercial tofu. The unfinished model is the same price as the Tofu Xpress and looks much more sturdy. If I don't win the drawing I'll probably buy one for myself.

Wow!! Amazing press. It is so good to see such great engineering and thought put into a tool that makes life easier. And thank you for the review. I have never made my own tofu but will drive out of my way to a place that sells freshly made tofu blocks that are still warm to the touch. my email is: mckinney maritza at gmail dot com. Keep up the good work on this blog!

This looks like a mighty fine product - well thought out and well made. I'd love to have one in my kitchen. After years of thinking about making my own tofu, I can feel that this is exactly what would push me into finally doing it!(My email can be found on the contact page of my website.)

Oh I would dearly love to be the winner of one of the Tofu Boxes. I am very nervous of the Tofu Express as I never got a straight answer regarding the presence of BPA in their product. I would love to be able to make my own tofu in such a beautiful piece of kitchen equipment. Maybe it will find it's way to the other coast - Nova Scotia where nary a tofu box can be found ! P.S. my Hubbie and two pugs love love tofu !! Thank you for this wonderful opportunity Bryanna !!

How exciting! Thank you for the very thorough description and explanation on how to make tofu and the specifics of this press in particular. I've never tried making my own tofu, but it's something I'd love to do. I'm impressed that the press is made so beautifully. It's like a functional piece of art!

This looks great! I have not yet braved making my own tofu, but this piece of equipment might just be the thing I need to give it a go. I would be interested to see Kevin's tempeh making equipment, too.

I'm so excited to see this lovely, useful product. I'm not sure that I'll make all my own tofu, but I can really use this for pressing commercial tofu and frozen chopped spinach. (I have a number of permanently pale green dish towels to attest to my fondness for this product.)lburrell1@mindspring.com

For those of you who THINK you might be interested in making tofu, I urge you to give it a try. I compare learning to make tofu to learning to make bread .... a few techniques to learn, and once you've got those down pat, it comes out perfect every time.

In fact, tofu is A LOT less finicky than bread. I've revised the directions that are on my website over the years in response to questions sent in by folks.

Homemade tofu is ridiculously inexpensive, and as is always the case with homemade foods ... the end product compares to store bought tofu about the way homemade bread compares to store bought!

I sooo need one of these! I've never made my own but would be inclined to do so and with the commercial tofu I buy I stack a plate with anything I can find on top to accomplish this. Looks like a great product! cautiouslyaudacious@hotmail.com

I just found this blog via google reader's suggested sources. I will be subscribing! I love tofu, but hate buying it since I always forget what I wanted to try with it! This press looks wonderful, and I commend the maker for making an effort to be Earth-happy. Good job! liebendrgn@gmail.com

The final frontier for me is making tofu, I've made everything else (tempeh, soy milk, breads, etc.) and it's one of the few things I still buy in the store. Would love to change that with this awesome press!

My husband and I are new(5 months) vegans. Squeezing Tofu sure is a challenge. I would love to win this nifty press. But if I don't, where can I buy one in Ottawa?Thanks for your great blog, Bryanna. Your creamy hummous is becoming a weekly standard in our house.:-)

My husband and I are new vegans (5 months) pressing the Tofu is a challenge. I would like to win this press, but if I don't are they for sale somewhere in Ottawa?Thanks for your blog, Bryanna, your Creamy Hummous is becoming a standard in our house:-)

Thank you so much everyone for your kind words [I'm blushing] about my new product, the TP1201 Tofu Press Kit. Let me address a couple of questions that have come up.

Yes, I will ship to the UK and most countries worldwide. I ship by the most economical option available or as directed by you. I do not stuff shipping with any other fees such as handling. I simply pass on the best shipping rate to you that I can find.

Where can you purchase a unit? Well, directly from my store here:

http://store.earthfirstinnovations.com/

Also, if you are interested in learning more about my start-up company and our other products, please check it out here:

http://www.earthfirstinnovations.com/

And if you want to follow my daily updates on product development and research, please have a look at my company Facebook page here:

http://www.facebook.com/EarthFirstInnovations

Enough about me. I just want to thank Bryanna and Brenda again for helping me out here. I am truly excited about getting this product to market, and I just can't wait to ship the freebie to the winner of the lucky draw here.

That's a beautiful press! I'd love to start making my own tofu (I recently started making my own soymilk, and I'm ready to embark on this adventure, too!). This looks like it would make it foolproof for even the most talented fool.

I got so tired of the tiny little plastic tofu mold that I asked my Dad to make me a contraption similar to this but, like the cot he promised my first son (who's now 5), it's still on the "to do" list.

I've been making tofu for about a year now and have a hard time eating the commercial stuff. You pretty much have to consider it a different food entirely, since it doesn't compare. As for the mold / press - I've used strainers with a flat bottom mostly, although my recent innovation is a plastic tray from strawberries with holes punched in the bottom (it already has holes in the sides). I put another tray on top and balance various jars of water, etc on top to add weight. Not bad, although I'm ready to graduate to the real deal! Thanks for offering the competition!

I have started making my own soy milk, and it's wonderful (without a machine, though). I would love to upgrade to making my own tofu as well - hopefully it's not too late to enter the contest! I can't afford the investment of a tofu press right now, so it would be great to win this contest and start paying only for soybeans and nigari. Thanks - my email is m.sqawsan.b@gmail.com.

Who would of thought make your own tofu, the flavours that you could now have available YuMMMMMY! Would you be able to tell me where to get one in Ottawa On everything seems to be in the states? thanks

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